The Stanford marshmallow test offered kids a choice: eat one treat now or wait 20 minutes for two. Only a few waited. Those who did went on to greater academic and business success. The ability to delay gratification is what separates successful entrepreneurs from the rest.
Know about the marshmallow test? Very famous test that was done at Stanford. They put one marshmallow in front of each of the kids and they said, "I'm gonna step outta the room. If you don't touch the marshmallow while I'm gone, when I come back, I'm gonna give you another marshmallow." And only one or two of the kids could wait for the person 20 minutes to come back. And the very few who could delay gratification were more successful in school, more successful in life, and more successful in business by various measures over the next 30 to 50 years of their life. It's a remarkable study. When you're an entrepreneur, you had to delay gratification because you were putting money into your business. The discipline of delayed gratification is at the core of entrepreneurial success.
